The 2018 FIG World Cup season kicks off February 22-25 in Melbourne with an apparatus-only tournament, followed a week later by the American Cup in Chicago, the first of four all-around competitions this year. Pictured: Georgia-Rose Brown (Australia)

The 2018 FIG World Cup season kicks off later this month in Melbourne with an apparatus-only tournament, followed a week later by the American Cup on March 3 in Chicago, the first of four all-around competitions this year.

The Melbourne World Cup features a full roster of gymnasts from Australia and China. Japan is also sending four male gymnasts, including 2013 world pommel horse champion Kohei Kameyama. World champions Morgan Hurd (United States) and Kenzo Shirai (Japan) headline the 43rd American Cup.

The 2018 season is the busiest yet for the FIG, with a record 14 competitions across four continents from February to November. The spring schedule is so packed that apparatus and all-around World Cup events will take place simultaneously on back-to-back weekends in March. The 3rd AGF Trophy will return March 15-18 to Baku, while the 35th EnBW DTB-Pokal Cup takes place March 17-18 in Stuttgart. The 11th Doha World Cup will be held March 21-24 at the Aspire Dome — site of this fall's world championships — as the Birmingham World Cup takes place March 21-22 in England.

The overall winner of the four all-around competitions this spring — taking place in Chicago, Stuttgart, Birmingham and Tokyo — will again be a country rather than an individual gymnast. The same nations are invited to compete in each competition, and gymnasts will amass points for their respective countries based on their rankings.

In the all-around series, Germany is the defending World Cup champions for the women, with Kim Bui taking second at the American Cup and Tabea Alt winning in Stuttgart and London last spring. Oleg Vernyayev led Ukraine to victory with a second-place at the American Cup and victories in Stuttgart and London as well. (Vernyayev, who has competed without a break since 2012, will be sitting out this year because of leg and shoulder injuries.)

Known as the AT&T American Cup since 2011, the tournament lost its title sponsor last month in more fallout from the Larry Nassar. USA Gymnastics is organizing the event without the help of AT&T, which joined Proctor & Gamble, Under Armour and Hershey's in canceling or not renewing their support for the troubled federation.

Neverthless, the competition has attracted an impressive field. Hurd will be joined by 2017 U.S. junior champion Maile O'Keefe, world floor exercise champion Mai Murakami (Japan), recent Elite Canada champion Brooklyn Moors, and Olympians Elisabeth Seitz (Germany) and Mao Yi. Along with O'Keefe, tricksters Fabiane Brito (2017 Brazilian junior champion) and Sanna Veerman (2017 Dutch junior all-around runner-up). British veteran Kelly Simm, a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2015 World Championships, rounds out the women's field.

Shirai, the world all-around bronze medalist and world champion on floor and vault, has said he is on a mission to stay among the top group of all-arounders in 2018. Reigning champion Yul Moldauer (United States) will attempt to defend his title in Chicago. His University of Oklahoma teammate Allan Bower, who took second to Moldauer at last year's U.S. championships, will be competing in his second all-around World Cup after finishing seventh last year in Stuttgart.

China's Sun Wei is slated for his third consecutive American Cup, finishing third in 2016 and seventh in 2017. Great Britain's James Hall, fifth last year in Stuttgart, will be making his American Cup debut. The lanky Petro Pakhnyuk, who returned to Ukraine last year after several years competing for Azerbaijan, is taking up the reigns in Vernyayev's absent as his country's top all-arounder. 2016 Olympian Francisco Barretto (Brazil) and 2017 world all-around finalists Philipp Herder (Germany) and Joel Plata (Spain) round out the men's field.

Seitz and Herder headline the Stuttgart World Cup along with three-time Olympian Marcel Nguyen. The strong lineup also includes Olympic gold medalist Yusuke Tanaka, British veteran Dan Purvis, Russian Olympians Angelina Melnikova and David Belyavsky, and Americans Jordan Chiles and Akash Modi.

The British gymnasts scheduled for the Birmingham World Cup were named on January 30, with the four gymnasts selected visiting a city school to make the announcement. European champion Ellie Downie will return to competition after missing last year's world championships with an injury. James Hall and 2016 Olympians Nile Wilson and Claudia Fragapane will also represent Great Britain at Arena Birmingham.

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